The great adventure of generosity

I once was invited around for Sunday lunch at someone's house. A gorgeous and generous mountain of food, I thought I could hear the table groan under the weight of the enormous bowls and pots and pans.

As we ate the food, we each said thank you for one thing we were grateful for.  It became known as the 'Rylett grace', in honour of the lovely people who introduced this way of giving thanks.  I struggled to think of something to be grateful for that day.  It was Father's day - and it was the first - without my dad.  I did not feel like I had an awful lot to be thankful for. 

Being thankful - I think I'm about to discover, has something to do with attitude.  There are lots of reasons why I want to do the 40Acts - but as the first act is to make a thankful list - I get the impression this is going to be good for me. 

So here's my list of things I'm thankful for today.

1. For 1 awesome colleague who solved my problems before they started
2. For the fragrance of the scented candle still in the air
3. For a long weekend coming up and time with family in Wales
4. For my niece's show-stopping self written novel and general creative genius
5. For wifi which is behaving itself more than normal
 

40 days...

of change...

Starting with...

Praying for the Philippines

My inbox has been inundated daily with headlines from the Philippines, and a constant flow of requests for emergency funds to a number of organisations.

At the same time, I've been so encouraged by people around me, with regular updates of how the emergency appeal is going for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).  To face fear, emptiness, uncertainty - that's something I can't imagine, and so how do we react? We give, and we pray.

My friend Sara has something to say about praying - which I'll share with you - because to find words at this time is incredibly difficult.  Do read and please keep both Syria and the Philippines in your thoughts and prayers.  

A nice little round of golf

The G8 leaders met in Northern Ireland this summer for their usual round up of business and and no doubt a few holes of golf.  But did their discussions send the ball of poverty into the sandtrap? Or did they stay on par and make good decisions which will change the course of history?



Like many others, I’m staggered by the injustice that lets nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every night. There is enough food for everyone in the world. And yet, 3 million children die from malnutrition every year. 

But let me tell you some good news. 

The IF campaign called for

·  the government to keep their 0.7% aid promise.

·  aid to support smallholder agriculture to give poor communities the power to feed themselves.

·  action on tax so that developing countries can raise more of their own revenue and multinational companies can’t dodge their taxes.

·  action on transparency so governments are accountable to their people for how they spend their money.

·  world leaders keep their promise to find an additional $100 billion a year to help poor countries adapt to climate change, on top of the aid budget.

Here is what happened:

Aid/Finance

·         Ahead of the UK budget thousands of campaigners called on the Chancellor to meet the UK’s aid pledge, leading to a historic commitment to spend 0.7% national income on aid. We first made this promise in 1970 and this is the first year we’ll keep it.

·         Then, ahead of the G8, an additional £4.1 billion was pledged by governments and other donors to tackle malnutrition which could save the lives of almost 2 million children by 2020.

·         We also called for investment to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change. Whilst the G8 repeated its promise to provide finance, the didn’t say where this money will come from. It is vital that progress is made at the UN climate talks in November.

·         The G8 however missed the chance to support the small-scale farmers that feed a third of the world’s population.

Tax and Transparency

·         In the UK: In March hundreds of campaigners lobbied local MPs and thousands wrote letters to George Osborne calling on him to reform UK tax laws in the budget. These reforms would have helped developing countries recover the taxes they are owed. But the Treasury didn’t heed our calls and so there’s still work to do on this.

·         However later, in May, he couldn’t ignore our calls to tackle the elephant in the room – our own tax havens – those in overseas territories and crown dependencies. At the Trade, Transparency, and Tax summit in June, all UK tax havens committed to sign a convention which would help improve transparency.

·         We put huge pressure on the G8 to set out great ambition to tackle tax dodging which they did at the Summit – with a commitment to start exchanging tax information automatically for both rich and poor countries - so it’s not secret any more - this is great, but we need a clear timeline for when it will happen. The public argument for a crackdown on tax dodging has been won, but the political battle remains. Future G8s and G20s must urgently finish the job.

Land

·         IF campaigners ensured that the issue of land grabbing in developing countries was discussed at the G8 and then acknowledged by world leaders in the summit’s final declaration. World leaders, as well as UK Department for International Development are keen to build on this and develop land rights as a wider area of UK expertise. The key win in this area was getting the issue on to the G8 agenda at all – this wouldn’t have happened without the IF campaign.

·         Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, and the Prime Minister also recognised the fact that biofuel production should not undermine food security.

·         Far more is needed - The G8 needs to show it will deal with the problem by regulating G8-based companies involved in land deals, and leading more ambitious global efforts to tackle land grabs.

There's more to be done.  Stay tuned for an update on the G20 and the next call to action.

L.O.V.E

Today I've been slightly overwhelmed by a beautiful bouquet of flowers from a  boy who wants to take me cycling. I'm all smiles.

It has struck me today that our acts of love can have a profound effect on people; not just people we know but people who through an accident of universal collision we come into contact with.  As my friend and I walked back to work after lunch today, she spotted a lady in the street and approached her.  Although they've never met, my friend spoke to her, asking in her softly spoken way if she is the lady who walks down Church Road every day.  'Ah,' she says, 'I've seen you - and I always think to myself that you're very beautiful.'  

Beauty can be seen in our actions. In how we treat strangers as well as loved ones.  How we choose to spend our money.  How we choose to react when something happens to us.  It's how we choose to speak well of someone and how we choose to care for others.

One of my overseas colleagues was disappointed today: the valentine's card his son brought home from school was sadly not for him - but for the family dog.  That - in itself is a beautiful thing.  To love - when we can't expect to get anything back in return.  

And I thought I'd share this little beauty from Tearfund rhythms by way of showing love to someone you don't know.  

Enjoy... 

IF

There's quite a bit of noise out in media land today, and across the UK you might catch a glimpse of some exciting happenings. It is ridiculous that 1 in 8 people will go to bed hungry tonight. 2 million children will die due to malnutrition. But there IS enough food to feel everyone. There's enough food, #IF we act and campaign and pray. We can make a difference. Need more convincing? Let me hand you over to the experts. Read this.
Or - if you've just got 2 minutes, watch this.
And take action. Get your church involved, share the link on social media. Let's make some noise.

Gold Rush

What will you remember about this summer? Did you capture a torch bearer on camera? Were you lucky enough to watch history being made by Usain Bolt? Or did you weep with joy at the medal won by the Chambers brothers? This summer has been a delight of torches, trophies and gold post boxes, as up and down the country we’ve been celebrating with our Olympic and Paralympic athletes, sharing a brief moment of their glory.   In the 5 years that I’ve lived in London, this summer has certainly been the most memorable. There’s been a sense of community and celebration, strangers talking in the streets, a shared pride of our islands achieving great athletic feats. But this fantastic sense of well being can’t just be medal fever. Earlier on this year, we got to know our neighbours as we spread bunting out across the length and breadth of our street, decorated pillars and posts in red white and blue, baked beautiful cup cakes and brought out our gazebos to share a meal in the street together.   And in great spirits, we celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee. This year has been a momentous occasion for bringing people together, sharing good stories and being neighbourly. We’re seeing a movement of good things happening in our neighbourhoods. It was only a year ago that the UK watched on as the scenes of deliberate and angry attacks on major cities unfolded. But The Games have re-introduced us to positive role models, people to proud of, to cheer on and to celebrate with. People who have faced challenges in their lives - and overcome the odds. 

I’ve had the huge privilege over the last few months of getting to know a few people from different organisations, coming together under the banner of ‘Serve.’ Serve is a group of organisations, committed to supporting churches passionately as they transform their communities.  It is about celebrating what the church is doing, inspiring others to action, sharing the good news stories with the government and media. 

I’ve often been inspired and moved by stories shared by colleagues working overseas. The work of partners alongside the local church, releasing potential. It really changes lives: people start to see their natural resources; to see how to lift themselves out of poverty and become independent. And there’s spiritual transformation too: because the church is at the centre of the process and people start to experience God’s heart for the last and the least. 

Bill Hybels said ‘the local church is the hope of the world.’ And hope is what we need, when the stories spread across the papers tell us that 13 million people in the UK are living on the breadline. Hope can come in the form of the local church, a visit from a neighbour, a hot meal or debt counselling. It’s a real privilege to be involved in Serve at this time, working with churches and organisations and people who are passionate about transforming lives. Feeding the hungry. Sheltering the homeless. Loving the unlovable. 

 
This is where the church is. And this is where it should be.

Mo Farah’s Gold post box in Teddington. Mo trained at St Mary’s college, Teddington and worked in the sport shop on Broad Street.

 

Just sing

Just in case you haven't noticed, there's a bit of a knees up going on this weekend.  In pretty much every town and city up and down the UK.  And if you haven't heard the theme tune to this rock n roll party, have a little look-see here.

 

I'm loving the celebrations that are unfolding, for lots of reasons.... 1) there are unending supplies of strawberries in the supermarkets, 2) there are several bunting-tastic houses in my locality, boasting more flimsy plastic flags than you can shake ... err.. a stick at... and 3) I believe life is good if it involves neighbours swapping cup cake recipes.  So, baking bonanza on Monday for our street party... Come join the fun.

Happy Jubilee.

Day 4: Eau de beans

On day 4 of the rice and beans challenge, I now smell of the food I've been eating. I am craving anything sweet. Butter icing, condensed milk, fifteens. Bananas taste amazing (I know because I have eaten 3 this week: which is a big R&B rule contravention, but I am following a slightly flexible version of the rules as otherwise I would almost certainly be in a hypo glycaemic coma).

So now that I'm more than half way through, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think there's also a salad there too.  What's been difficult is having the same taste, the same substance and very little variety of food.  It genuinely makes be thankful different food groups such as meat, veggies and complex carbohydrates. I found it difficult to concentrate at work for the first day, but have grown more used to having less to eat, but I don't know how I would have managed to do a full day's labour with this amount of energy.  I'm conscious of how much I consume on an ordinary basis, and it makes me think I could definitely cut down on unnecessary things.

And with that in mind, I want to pray for West Africa.  Alernet reports that there will be another food crisis this year in the Sahel, putting 10 million lives at risk. But if we act now, the effects could be dramatically reduced. So Father God, please help us to learn the lessons from past disasters. Please help aid agencies respond, with the help of governments, to put in place the right mechanisms to prevent disaster. The erratic rains mean that crops may fail but there are things that can be done to help cultivate drought resistent crops.  Let's pray for good cooperation between governments and humanitarian agencies to help to provide a plan of action, to save lives and prevent disaster. Amen. 

Please consider making a donation to Tearfund who have long term partners in West Africa.

Day 3: They will be filled

There's a book I've started reading, and I've got to the end of the first chapter, and I'm stuck.  The challenge that I can't move past at the moment is this:  It's asking the question, what are you passionate about? What are the changes you long to see happen in the world?

The book is called 'Follow me to Freedom' and it's written by Shane Claiborne, author of  'The Irresistible Revolution' and John M Perkins.  On my third day of the rice and best fest, there's a verse that is turning over in my mind.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matt 5:6

And that is something of an encouragement, in the sense that there is hope. When you've been praying for change, investing in people, and their situations, really interceding, when there's nothing more than you can do, there is still hope. And it's the right thing to do, to keep on praying. Not to give up, but that there will eventually be signs of renewal.
But we've got to be part of that change.  Be the change you want to see. Love this little flim and brilliant resources on this website, to help us be part of the change we want to see in the world  wecan.be

Lord, you've shown us what we need to do. Not to follow empty rituals and present unecesssary gifts. But to do what's just and fair, to be compassionate to everyone, and to stay in step with God.  [paraphrase of Micah 6: 6-8]

Day 2: hunger pangs and headaches

It's an encouragement to know that there are 72 people doing the rice and beans challenge in work; and by way if supporting each other and resisting the temptations of food, we have been assigned to a separate area on the staff canteen. It was all going smoothly until I caught a sniff of the alternative option; the aroma of a hamburger wafting through the air. However I had the lovely encouraging company of Helen and Keren to help overcome. As we reflected on our meagre meals, we became thankful for what we had.

As I've been unwell for a few days running up to this, I'm also very thankful for medicine. How easily I can select a packet of paracetamol off the shelf of the pharmacy. But for all those who don't have such luxuries, life is unnecessarily hard. Today, I pray for communities around the world, where illnesses such as diarrhoea are life threatening. Where if mum or dad gets ill, it means no money for food. I pray that their lives are changed by simple things like having access to water, and having basic sanitation. Because these things aren't luxuries, they are essential to life. Lord I pray for life in its fullest sense for these most vulnerable communities. Amen.

Day 1: 27 million

Day 1: Encouraged; uplifted; tempted by takeway menu through the letterbox; smiling inwardly at my power to resist; still slightly hungry.

Now, more than ever, I'm convinced of the power of prayer.   This morning at church we met together for our owb rice and beans lunch, and we just had a good ol' family time, everyone mucked in, we had a laugh about what it would be like in our homes eating rice and beans for 5 days. And we prayed, because as Mark Melluish said, sometimes praying is the only thing you can do.

We were also reminded about another aspect of poverty.  London is gearing up to get ready for being the stage of the world and for a few short weeks, people will visit to see the greatest athletes and events.  But behind the scenes, money is changing hands to traffik women and children into the UK, in time for the Olympics.  Back in Lord Wilberforce's day, there were about 11 million slaves. That was 200 years ago.  Today, there are 27 million slaves. Slavery is alive. It's ugly, it's hidden, it's wrong.  It's the result of poverty, it's the result of people not having enough and wanting a better life for their children. It's the result of not having a choice.  Not having a voice to speak up for what's right.

Now is the time to do something about that.

Here's one thing you can do.  Let's make a noise about modern day slavery. We need to tell politicians to do something, and the media, and businesses. And to let people know that this needs to stop, we need to get everyone involved.  One of the ways you can do that is by downloading this song from itunes/Amazon/Play. Don't do it until Monday or it won't count in the charts.

 

Father God, tonight I want to cry out for the millions of people who are held captive, enslaved, forced into a trade that is harmful and soul destroying.  Lord, would you help me use whatever I have to make a difference where I am.  I want to pray for the families who are left behind. I want to pray that they realise they do have  choice.  I pray that they would choose life.  Amen.

For more on the anti-traffik campaign, go to www.notforsalecampaign.org.

One Voice

This week, I'm preparing to take part in Tearfund's rice and beans challenge.  It's fairly simple: for 5 days, I'm going to live on a diet of rice and beans, with a bit of porridge for breakfast.  Not the usual Friday night curry portions - oh no.  And.. no tea or coffee, just water to drink.   Half of the world is living in desperate poverty, in fact, living on less than $2 a day, and I want to be part of generation that does something about this injustice.  I have a few friends joining in as well, and we're kicking it all off with a lunch on Sunday, consisting of various bean stew options.  But I also want to be part of a movement that prays for the least, the last and the lost.  I believe prayer, as John Wesley once said, is where the action is.  So, we don't just pray, we pray together, and we act.

It's T-6 days, and so I'm warning as many people that this is happening. I think the word warning is appropriate - I'm not sure how nice a person I am without caffeine...)

As I've been preparing for this challenge, one of the things I've been reflecting on is why we pray together.
The celestial prayer room is not a market place, where we have to shout louder just for God to hear us or negotiate a deal.  Even when we can't articulate those things, he still knows what we need. Romans 8:26.   I've been reading through Romans and one verse really stood out for me.  It follows the chapter where Paul writes to remind us that different people have different ways of doing things.

Paul writes about the need to get on with each other.  Don't let difference of opinions cause division.  But work for peace with each other.  And encourage one another, live in harmony.  Join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6.

And so, I think that for me sums up why it's good to pray together.  Whether we meet in a room, or whether we join together around the world, we are coming together with One Voice.  So let's pray.

www.tearfund.org/onevoice

Green is in

So far, 2012 is off to a good start with a New Years day lunch with lovely friends, an awesome bike ride in the rain, and only one escapee price tag on display for the majority of the day. Excellent.  I hope the trend continues.

And so in the dying embers of this momentous day, I'm trying to fit in a review of the year just past, of  challenges faced and lessons learned.  And being slightly envious already of friends who have thought up genius resolutions for the year - both clever - and fun.  Realistically, there's not enough time for all that; even armed with an archive of periodicals, it would be hard to do justice to all the world's events.  Some will undoutedly haved impacted us more than others.  Here's a little Google-glimpse.



Next - the duty of the resolution.  No other word in the English language pains me so much.  I may literally drag my feet into the next month before I make up my mind on anything.  However, I have decided that green is good.  Buying less is more. The year of the triathalon might finally be here. Photography, literature and cracking a sudoku in under 10 minutes - whilst all worthwhile, must recognise their less significant place in 2012. Maybe this year should begin with bended knee - if 2012 is to bring a tide of change to our cities, to our world economies to help the global poor; our international relations to help the refugee.  We should start with prayer. That's a good resolution to start with.

It's beginning to feel a lot like...

Dare I say it...? Well, it is first day of December, no-one can argue when I say it's baltic outside.   All the classic seasonal tunes are being belted out of every shop. Selection boxes are flying off the shelves, and children are rehearsing their lines for the school nativity.  For these reasons, it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  I remember, when I was little, impatiently waiting for that big day, excited about what presents would be laid out for me on Christmas morning.  Blissfully unaware of course of how much my parents had been running around frantically visiting relatives, buying gifts (and batteries - maybe), and stocking up the fridge with enough food to last through a nuclear war.   It's slowly dawned on me in my adult years that Christmas = Stressmas.  Our intentions of goodwill to all men suddenly evaporate when there's 2 people trying to squeeze into the same parking space at 4pm on Christmas Eve.  I speak from experience.

In my wee patch of homeland, churches have been vying for a space right in the centre of the town during December.  In the midst of our busy-ness, I'm excited to see prayer recognised for being central to our lives.  But it hasn't been easy to get agreement from landlords, slightly ironic given that a couple of streets away, £200,000 worth of home-grown cannabis was recently discovered in an unused shop.  I so want to see the power of prayer overcome in this and hear the stories that come out of the Prayer Shop.

But as well as this lovely prayer update, I'm excited to share about the church in Uganda.  Today is World Aids Day.  As an avid Facebook user, my morning newsfeed was swamped with links about HIV.  I've fished out this article as it's such a good story;  How the Churches practise what they preach.

So today, please pray for the 33 million people worldwide living with HIV.  Find out more here.  Please pray for changes in our towns and cities, that help us 'do' prayer.  Finding meaning at Christmas isn't the easiest thing to do, but if you intentionally want to do this, you might enjoy this: YouVersion- Rediscovering the Christmas season.

And remember, goodwill to all men.

be the answer

Our father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

For years these words have been proclaimed boldly in meeting halls, whispered under breaths, even sung along to a puffling old organ in a darkened church. In school assembly this was part of our daily recital and we'd giggle at the line, 'give us this day our 'taty bread' (that's potato bread in case you didn't know). I knew it was a prayer to God, but I had little idea what it was about other than asking for food and forgiveness.

I'd very much missed the point.

Surely it’s obvious - we're asking God to do some stuff in our life, forgive others and have our slates wiped clean.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth. As it is. In Heaven.

Take a look at the world around us. This definitely isn't heaven. According to http://slaveryfootprint.org there are 27 million slaves in the world, contributing to the economic wealth of the world's richest countries. That's the equivalent to roughly half the population of the UK and, having just taken the survey it came as a nasty surprise that I have 29 working for me.

The tantalum in my mobile phone. The cotton picked in fields by school children in central Asia . Cosmetics, fruit, jewellery... somewhere along the production line, labour is cheap. But far from free. And that's to say nothing of the shocking trade in human trafficking; the greatest outrage of our days. It's appalling that this should happen to anyone in the 21st century, but that 99% of victims never escape is unforgiveable.

I think when Jesus gave his disciples this prayer, he was doing much more than introducing a monological recital to smooth our walk with God. He was giving us a way to overcome the powerlessness that we can feel from facing our biggest issues.

This prayer - is an empowerment to the pray-er. Because, yes, these very words speak of God's supremacy: we acknowledge that God is God, God is great. But I think Jesus was teaching us more. Jesus summed it up like this. Love God, love your neighbour. Nothing else really matters (Matthew 22: 34-40).

This matters to God because - this - is - bringing Heaven to earth.

I love this prayer that I came across:

Lord, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
the courage to change the one I can,
and the wisdom to know its me!
[The Plan Be Serenity Prayer]

Do one thing

Can we change the lives of 27 million people? I think we can. For anyone who now feels overwhelmed, angry, or shocked by any of these news articles, know that you can be part of the answer to your prayer. Go make a difference here: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

If you're not convinced you can be the answer to your prayer, I recommend watching this film clip which demonstrates the power of heart-felt, desperate prayer, which changed a nation. Pray the devil back to hell.

If you want your ordinary everyday life to be transformed in answer to this prayer, if you want to get others along with you, I recommend this website: Www.wecan.be

We can. Be the answer.

Community to the Rescue

A group of us have been meeting every week to talk about what it means to be a people living justly*. It has been a bit of a journey for us, and a challenge to look outwardly into the community around us. Every week I've left with something that has impacted and made a difference to me. This week, we talked about community.

Amidst the busy week that I've had, my community reached out to me. Waiting in my car for the level crossing barrier to lift, I had switched off my engine, knowing that sometimes it can be an eternity for trains to pass through.

When the barrier finally lifted, I tried to switch on my engine.

Fail. My little car refused to show any vital signs. None of the usual healthy revving noises, just a pitiful clicking, something similar to an antique typewriter, which of course, meant that the car wouldn't start. And now I was creating a bit of a bottleneck with cars queued up behind me. I prayed the shortest prayer ever. God....... Help.

I'll admit, I felt fairly calm, having only two thoughts running through my mind. Number 1: The most serious concern was that I was wearing some ridiculous cycling shorts. Sadly, when it comes to lycra, I've never been able to pull it off, so when I wear it, it's because I don't expect to 'be seen'. The second, but by no means less important issue was the fact that my breakdown cover had expired a month earlier and, at this inconvenient point in time, had not yet been renewed. Imagine my sadness.

I stepped out of my car, accutely aware of my fashion related faux pas. And the man in the car behind already walking towards me - just happened to be - a friend. A friend with much experience of broken down cars as he has owned many in the past. And with the help of another kind neighbour, a little crew of car pushers and morale boosters, I was able to get the car started, and get home.

Today, this same group of people that have been meeting every week organised a free brunch for our community. We used the car park of the church, transforming it into an outdoor coffee lounge: sofas, newspapers, cakes stands, bacon butties. The idea was just to bless people in our neighbourhood, no strings attached. It was awesome. Such a beautiful day - meeting the people we live with, hearing their stories. Just giving away a cup of coffee and having a chat. I was really... inspired. I want to do it again tomorrow!

So, anyway, giving away stuff is good. Getting to know people is good. Blessing your community is good. It might look different in different places, but wherever you do it, it's going to bring a smile to someone's face. It might make their day.

Watch.




* Just People

Why did the Londoner not cross the road?

London is very 'unexpected' city to live in. You must be prepared to be taken by surprise, it's generally not the done thing to adopt the aghast open-mouthed stare at anything unusual. That's an error I've made on some occasions. But this little cyclic demonstration was one of those 'WOW' moments on my arrival in Waterloo last week, yes, my mouth might have been slightly agape, in eagerness to join in... and partly in my realisation that quite clearly I have been wearing the incorrect attire in my daily commute to work.

The Tweed Run has been supporting Bikes4Africa, to provide refurbished bikes to children in Africa, to help them get to school on time. A very worthwhile project. I hope you enjoy the short clip which I took before diving into the oncoming traffic.

What's your story?

You've probably seen this before. But it's never more moving that when you see it with your own eyes. In your own church. With the young people you've helped nurture and lead. I love coming back to my home church, a little visit to the homeland is always very restorative (not good for the GI diet though). On sunday my youth group did a fab job of leading the service, with their own cardboard testimonies. The clip below isn't of my church or the young people, unfortunately they weren't filmed. But I think you'll agree, this is pretty moving.

I love this message of transformation. We are broken, we grieve, we are anxious about things we cannot change. Often we try to fit God into that framework and try tell him what he needs to do to make our lives better. It doesn't work like that. In the last few days, a family in Northern Ireland has been greiving. And people in this nation have been outraged over a young police officer who was killed in a bomb explosion in his own car. It's just one story in Omagh's painful past. When will it be enough? My own story of loss is familiar at this time of year, as it approaches the anniversary of my dad's death. [ED: I recognise that my experience of loss is a fairly narrow one and that many others have been through much greater pain than this]. I'd lost my gran a few months earlier; and one of my closest friends: an amazing woman who had prayed with me through my gran's passing and my dad's illness. I don't think I functioned properly as a human being, or even vaguely ressembled one, for many months. But hurt - slowly changed into healing. And bizarrely... joy. How it happened, I will never know. But it's a bit like this: letting go of pain, writing it on a piece of cardboard, and turning it over, and finding this: peace. comfort. joy. Finding out that the sun didn't stop coming up every morning. So which side of your piece of cardboard are you holding? Are you holding onto pain? Rejection or hurt? Are you grieving? Let go. And let God write on the other side of that piece of card as he shows you, he gives healing. Restoration. Yes, even joy. He is constantly at work in our lives. Working on a little miracle in every detail.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:2 (the message)

When the going gets tough...

So, I've discovered a number of bible-in-a-year readers and someone who's decided to listen to the whole of the New Testament during the 40 days of lent. Hats off to you people and a hearty whoop whoop. Reading the bible cover to cover is something I've successfully put off for a respectable length of time. But something happened at the start of the year, something urged me to just give it a go. And so here I am, 83 days in, and with however many other people, I've got to Deuteronomy.
Or Dooteronomy, depending on where in the world you live.

Wow.

The first five books of the bible, full of history, amazing visions, revelations, rescue from slavery, and a 40 year game of desert storm. And then I hit Numbers. I am a bit of a stat geek, but even this pushes my limits. So, if you're in the same place, if you've got to the mud and mire of genealogical listings and censis publications, allow me to introduce you to the monkey bar challenge courtesy of the Community of readers and Matt, who marvellously unravels the wonders of the history of another nation and makes it, well, interesting, and relevant.

Let me know what you think so that I can share something more intellectual than my usual contribution at the next lunch time meeting ;-)